MA to hold one-day conference on diversity, equality and inclusion

Rebecca Atkinson, 23.11.2017

Programme for seminar now online

The Museums Association (MA) has published the timetable for the forthcoming one-day conference on diversity, inclusion and equality, which features inspirational keynotes, interactive workshops and case stuidies.

All Inclusive: Championing Diversity in Museums takes place on 24 January at Thinktank in Birmingham. The day will address the essential issue of how museums can diversify their audiences and workforce, through a series of talks, discussion, debate and exchange.

The programme features keynotes from Anisa Haghdadi, the chief executive officer of youth agency Beatfreeks and Samar Ziadat, the co-founder and editor of Dardishi, an online magazine published and written by Arab women.

James Brandon, the diversity and inclusion manager at Tate, will lead a workshop on unconscious bias during the morning session. Caroline Currie, the learning and access curator at the Burrell Redevelopment, part of Glasgow Museums, and Dan Vo, the project coordinator of the Victoria & Albert Museum’s LGBTQ Tours, will deliver a workshop exploring how museums can deliver inclusive tours for different audience groups.

There will be case studies on working with refugees, creating multisensory experiences and workforce programmes, as well as decolonising museum collections.

Provocations by Sacha Coward, ‎the community participation producer at ‎Royal Museums Greenwich, Thanh Sinden, the strategic audience development manager at ‎Culture Coventry Trust, and Anna Liesching, the curator of art at National Museums Northern Ireland, will bookend the day.

Delegates will also hear the findings from a national programme, led by the Association of Independent Museums and supported by a range of other organisations including the MA, which is investigating the diversification of museum audiences.

The programme for the event has been created with a steering committee of advocates for diversity, equality and inclusion, and an open call for papers.